Sunday, November 19, 2006

a recent abundance of carrots has led me to make several dishes involving my ex-foe daucus carota. i used to be very allergic to raw carrots until recently and found out from my allergist that many people who, like myself suffer from severe hayfever, are allergic to raw carrots & celery. funny enough, when cooked, the chemical structure of the carrots (and celery) is altered and pose no problems in that state. getting back to cooking ....

one of these dishes, which i sometimes make, is a purée of carrot soup. while this was tremendously popular at certain times, visions of the '80s return, this is a simple soup which can easily be altered to suit your taste. what i am offering here is one version and a sort of framework for the base of the soup; go ahead and put whatever spices & seasonings which suit your fancy. the use of the almonds is optional but is part of this specific recipe. this soup needs to be thinned and can be altered to meet your desires for whatever texture you prefer, using milk or cream or even a nondairy liquid such as almond milk or soy milk.

somehow this recipe seems best when made in a cocotte. what's that? see the recipe below. wouldn't you like one of those babies?!

chop onions and garlic. either cut carrot into small chunks or put through a processor to coarsely grate. this will allow the soup to cook more quickly though here it's not really necessary.

in a cocotte [dutch oven or soup pot], add the oil and heat over a medium low fire. place the onions and garlic and blanched almonds in the pot and sauté until lightly browned. add the carrots and cook stirring for 10 minutes. add the spices and seasonings and cook another 5 minutes. add your stock and then cook on a low heat, covered, for about 40 minutes. give a stir every once in a while.

here you may use a hand immersion blender directly in the pot, or as i do, place everything once it has cooled a bit to avoid burns, in a blender and purée it completely. it can also be done through a food mill.

return this to your cocotte and add what you want to use to thin the soup in whatever proportions you choose. i would start out with small amounts and test along the way. adjust your seasonings and spices too.

garnish with chopped cilantro or parsley. you may add toasted slivered almonds on top or crunchy, toasted croutons.

princess - yes, go to the bottom of this post and click on the tag for soups and scroll down. there are some others that i love, one which is for cream of mushroom which is AMAZINGLY good and easy to make. hope you try it! let me know how you like it, if you do. the black bean one is really delicious too if you like that kind of thing.

I think I will like this,I normally use the Knor soup mix that sells to thicken my soups...Yes transportation is so different here in Canada, I am havin the hardest time adjusting.. I will see what I can do about Guyanese Cooking...I am not much of a cook lol..

Add me to your reading :=)

if you see a recipe or something you like — cut, paste and print all you like. the only thing i ask is to please credit me on your site with a link back if you decide you'd like to use something i've done :D

do you have a question, comment, complaint constructive criticism or request? i'd love to hear from you. feel free to email me (click icon) or leave a comment .... anonymous comments mean not even i know who you are, so don't be shy! you know you wanna..... LOL.
your feedback about recipes you try is also greatly appreciated for both me and readers of my blog. i thank all of you who have tried things i post.

About Me

a canadian, food-obsessed guy who loves to research, read, write and talk about all things culinary. well, most of the time • collecting recipes, clippings and cookbooks as well as kitchen paraphenalia has long been an 'illness'. blogging about it is my cheap version of therapy • many of the recipes & foods i include may relate to jewish cuisine but my goal is not to maintain a blog which solely focuses on that aspect. so .... no pork, shellfish or mixed meat & dairy here but a myriad of otherwise just as delicious & mouth-watering recipes and information about what enters our gullets • apart from the comestible, posts often include bytes of other interesting finds, quite unrelated to the world of food — a latest earth-shattering or just curious news event, music, humour, the internet, our non-human counterparts & the other oddities of our world will sometimes be featured in the spotlight.